Thermo Housing

[Randy Packer]

I just want to say Thank GOD for this website and all the Project tips. I drove to a Doctor Appointment 4hrs away and my truck started purging coolant. I left my ST with a mechanic and rented a car to go home. They called and said the Lower Thermo Housing was cracked. I hit up the Junk Yard on post and took one out of a Ford Explorer. Looked up on this site and found a link that sent me to step by step on how to replace it. Saved me $200 in parts and $200 in labor plus a $200 in another week car rental since it takes 7 days for parts to get shipped to Army Posts in Europe. Keep up the posts and Thanks for all the help!!:banana:

 

[John Zuber]

I have a 2004 like yours...did you still have to obtain the gaskets or O-rings? Any reason for why the lower part cracked...is it plastic? I've been thinking of doing some preventive maintenance, including replacing that small lower hose that runs between the thermostat housing and water pump, but parts are overly expensive. Just pricing out some of the small coolant hoses is crazy. Glad it worked out for you.

 

[swshawaii]

All too common issue for Gen1 Trac's. It's composite plastic and literally comes apart at the seams.

Check Amazon, FastPartsNetwork, or RockAuto for MotorCraft parts pricing.

 

[Randy Packer]

Absolutely The lower housing cracked at the seams. I took one out of a Explorer. It was a bit different but the bolt holes lined up and I used some Gasket sealant to re-enforce the difference. Theres still a little leak but not nearly as bad as when I had the crack. Yeah It is hella hard to replace took me atleast 2 hours and 2 sets of hands.

 

[TrainTrac]

I replaced mine using the project above. Was a piece of cake. I bought all of the parts listed in project from our site sponsor Torrie for about $140. It was worth my piece of mind to use new parts instead of used ones.

 

[Ryan Martinez]

Man, I remember when mine went at about 80k.

I spent countless hours of driving on water and going back and forth to the mechanic till I got on here after being off a while, and saw what happened. Picked up the new part, and fixed it myself. Glad you were able to find out before you wasted all your time.